Garuda boosts Australian routes

Garuda Indonesia will increase its flights to Australia this summer, providing more connections to and from Jakarta and Bali.

In a joint press conference with Tourism Australia, the national carrier announced that it will increase its services between Jakarta and Australia from four to five flights per week, while its flights from Bali to Australia will rise from six to seven per week.

Currently, Garuda operates six routes Down Under, linking Jakarta and Bali with Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The additional flights will operate from May to October 2017, and will be adjusted to suit the demand of each market.

“The enhancement of our services to Australia will offer our customers a wider choice of flight schedules and ultimately greater travel convenience to Australia. We also want to thank our customers for their trust in flying Garuda Indonesia, and to Tourism Australia for its continuous support for Garuda Indonesia through our partnership campaign. We hope this successful partnership between Tourism Australia and Garuda Indonesia will continue in the upcoming years,” said Garuda’s CEO, Arif Wibowo.

In 2016, Garuda achieved a 17% increase in passenger traffic on its Australian routes, compared to 2015.

“Indonesia is one of Australia’s fastest-growing markets for international visitors and is Australia’s 12th largest market for international visitor arrivals. Indonesia has the potential to be worth over AU$1 billion (US$760 million) in overnight visitation by 2020 and we hope that today’s announcement by Garuda Indonesia will help us achieve that,” said Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism & Investment, Steven Ciobo.

“On behalf of Tourism Australia, we look forward to the joint campaign promoting the increased services across the airlines’ key gateways of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.”